Don’t Be A Copagandist: Trans Criminalization Edition
A resource for media on covering anti-trans rhetoric and the criminalization of trans people.
By Arielle Rebekah of Trans & Caffeinated Communications and Lewis Raven Wallace and Andrea J. Ritchie of Interrupting Criminalization
The criminalization of trans people is not a new phenomenon. But indisputably, anti-trans ideology has escalated over the past decade in the U.S. and internationally, driven by authoritarianism and the Christian Right. These attacks share a clear throughline: they deploy criminalization, whether through criminal punishment, denial of basic necessities such as health care, and detention, expulsion, or exclusion from public life, to disenfranchise entire groups of people.
The Right is working diligently to control the narrative about transgender people, and journalists are often on the front lines of linguistic resistance. Through accurate, factual, sensitive reporting, journalists and communicators have the power to break through the noise of anti-trans propaganda. This guide provides useful context, guidance, and tips for covering the criminalization of trans, non-binary, and Two Spirit+ communities, though it is by no means exhaustive.
Like our other “Don’t Be A Copagandist” guides, this resource is written with journalists and communicators in mind, but it has useful, important points that are helpful for anyone to read and take note of, regardless of profession.
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